Pictures of Pride
by StoryNeverTold
Summary: As Brendan and Ste finally manage to get their relationship back on track, a familiar face from deep in Brendan's past and childhood returns and turns his world upside down. Are Brendan and Ste strong enough to fight through it, is blood really thicker than water, and what will be the consequences for the two men if it all goes wrong? Stendan.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Starting another fan fiction…not sure why, I'm an idiot, I know. Dedicated to a) iamthebabelfish who gave me inspiration for this due to a roleplay between me and her…and b+c) to NattieeeJayyy and ChantelleOD for listening to this idea and fangirling over it… This chapter was mainly a chance for me to do a bit of descriptive writing before I went into the plot =) Thanks for T for helping with the title.  
**

Brendan took another sip of the amber liquid in his tumbler and sighed, twirling it in his hands, watching the liquid splash against the sides of the glasses. The club was dimly lit and had closed an hour ago, yet he could still smell the lingering odour of drunk, sweat-ridden uni students. He hated students. Hated them. The club was always full of them though, so he didn't really have the right to complain, considering they were one of their main sources of profit.

He looked up lazily as Rhys trudged out of the office, shrugging his jacket on. "Right. I, err, sorted that rota thingy out. Is it alright if I go now, boss?"

Brendan nodded a little and tilted his glass a little as a sort of salute. "See ye tomorrow…" He drawled slowly, draining the last of his whisky and standing up straight as Rhys walked out and closed the door. Brendan shivered a little from the gust of cold wind and the slight spatter of rain that came in through the door before Rhys shut it and he poured himself another whisky.

He was used to spending his nights like this - after closing time - just lingering around for another two hours or so, not really doing anything…just existing. It was relaxing, in a way. More relaxing than being at home with Cheryl; the chatterbox and village gossip and Lynsey, who was just as bad. Not to mention Scottish Foxy who was always nattering in his ear, trying to impress him. Sometimes all Brendan wanted, no, needed, was a bit of peace and quiet, where he could be alone with his thoughts, no matter how weird those thoughts may be.

He stood up straight and walked slowly to the sofa, sitting down on it and leaning back, making himself comfortable. He could hear the faint, repetitive pattering of the rain against the brickwork and roof of the club and it was, in a weird way, sort of soothing. It echoed softly through the large empty space of the nightclub and it made it feel bigger, made Brendan feel like he had the whole world to himself.

The club seemed so huge, so peaceful right now, and it was bizarre to think you could barely move in this space only an hour ago. Every night it turns into a place which vaguely reminded Brendan of hens in the battery cages. Not like he was complaining; it all meant more money for him. When he'd first got into this business, running nightclubs used to make him feel a little ill; the smell of people and the heart-shaking bass of the music used to get to him. But now he was sort of accustomed to it. He liked it.

He heard the wind batter the building outside and he smiled to himself, pitying poor Rhys who had just left to walk home, pitying all those who had left the clubs when it closed, the weather cursing their luck and he envied those who were warm in bed, safe from the storm with people they love.

Wow.

That was a weird thought. _Too much whisky, _Brendan told himself, brushing away that odd thought. He downed the rest of the golden liquid in his glass and crunched on one of the ice cubes as it slid into his mouth. He pondered over his life at the moment for a brief second and considered staying and pouring more whisky. But something nagged at him in the back of his mind. _There's something you have to do, mate. _So with that, he stood up and walked out of the club, shivering only slightly against the onslaught.

-OXO-

The rain was constant all night. So was the wind. Brendan lay on his side and stared at the red digits on the alarm clock that read 4:17. it was the early hours of the morning and yet he could still hear the wind howling and shaking the window pane. He turned to lie on his back and stared up at the tiny details of the intricate patterned ceiling that he could see thanks to the orange glare of the street lamps coming through the crack in the curtains.

He turned his head to the side to look at the space in the bed beside him. Except there was no space. And this was not his bed. He smiled a little to himself and reached up his hand to brush a bit of hair away from Stephen's sleeping face. He hadn't expected to get him back tonight, not after everything. But when he turned up at just gone 2am on Stephen's doorstep, drenched in rainwater, something in the core of Stephen's very being reignited. He saw it with his own eyes.

But Stephen wasn't that easy, not any more. He had provided Brendan with a towel to dry himself off and a cup of tea and they sat and talked. Small talk, jokes, sarcastic comments and then eventually - when neither of them could ignore the obvious anymore - they discussed their relationship, their feelings and eventually, the mutual desire to be in a relationship, Douglas or no Douglas. It was going to be difficult, but Brendan had cracked it. So with that, they had gone to bed together. Around an hour from this very moment.

It had been a quick session of sex, to be fair, as they had both been desperate and longing for one another's touches. It was messy and sloppy, their lips colliding desperately, almost tearing one another's clothes off until they both collapsed on the bed and became a mess of limbs and deep thrusts and hair pulling and the deepest, warmest feeling in the bottom of both their guts. Eventually, they became harmonious, a symphony of moans and cries, and a routine of kissing and biting and hip rolling and thrusts, so intricate it almost seemed as if it had choreographed and planned. And as they drew to a close, they pressed their foreheads together, moaning the other's name as they came.

Stephen had been exhausted, Brendan remembered. And he had fallen asleep soon after Brendan had pulled out. But it wasn't like Brendan cared; they had all the time in the world, right? Besides, he didn't mind having Stephen sleep beside him. So he closed his eyes and listened to the howling wind and the hammering rain - satisfied by the fact that the envious feeling from earlier had dissipated. He had his Stephen back.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you for your reviews, I will start working on my other fan fictions once the writer's block clears! =) Dedicated to T and Tash for being my msn bitches 3 **

Ste hadn't expected it, to be fair. His plans for the night had entailed finishing from the deli early to see the kids off as they went to Mike's and Amy went to Michaela's and then spending the night watching telly before heading to bed. He had not anticipated what was going to happen.

He'd spent the day as per usual with Doug, running the deli, being all couple-y etc etc. and he loved it. Being with Doug, running the deli, being independent. Only… It was getting a bit boring. Every day was exactly the same. There was no massive drama or passion or excitement, but Ste couldn't expect every moment to be as dramatic and intense as it was with Brendan or with Noah for that matter. But Doug was sweet and he loved him. He guessed.

So after that he headed home and watched an action movie eating a curry before heading to bed just short of midnight, letting the awful weather sooth him to sleep. He hadn't expected to be woken by hammering on his front door. So he trudged out of bed wondering what the hell was going on. For a moment, he panicked: _what if it was Mike and summat had happened to the kids?! What if Amy was hurt?! What if it was the police, a doctor, someone important?! _He was freaked - something bad had happened.

So when he opened the door to see Brendan Brady - his psycho ex - stood on his doorstep, his first feeling was anger._ How dare he turn up here at this time of night! Who did he think he was?! _But then he saw something behind Brendan's eyes. Some sort of… sadness? And the man was soaked to the skin. Shivering and dripping with rainwater.

There was a little nagging feeling that told him to invite Brendan in. So he did. Brendan had sat on the sofa almost straight away and Ste ignored the feeling to tell him off for wetting his sofa. That wasn't exactly important. He retreated to the bathroom and threw a towel at Brendan. He made him a cup of tea, exactly how Brendan liked it and they'd sat and talked. He'd tried to ignore how Brendan looked somewhat hot when he dried his hair and peeled his soaked jacket off his body. In fact, he'd been trying to ignore his feelings ever since Brendan arrived at his door.

_He loved Doug._

_He loved Doug._

_He loved Doug._

All night, over and over in his head until the words made him cringe. Eventually, Brendan had taken their jokey, light conversation to the next level, and the two men had ended up discussing emotions. Brendan loved him, he told him. Ste didn't know what to say, what to do. He'd told himself he was better than this, better than Brendan but as soon as the man had opened up to him, all he wanted to do was run back to him. But he couldn't be the man to always crawl back to Brendan, right?! Wrong.

They'd ended up in the bedroom and Ste had realized how much he'd missed Brendan. The man was amazing in bed. _Sure, it wasn't the only thing going for him, but god he was amazing, _Ste thought to himself. He'd realized just how boring - for want of a better word - his sex life with Doug had been when he'd ended up completely drained by the end of it. He fell asleep beside Brendan in mere minutes; the sound of Brendan's panting breaths and the rain soothing him into sleep.

-OXO-

It was 9:53 when Brendan actually awoke and opened his eyes to look into the red digits of Stephen's alarm clock. He yawned and rolled onto his back to look at Stephen beside him, curled up asleep, hair the messiest fucking thing he'd ever seen. Stephen inhaled and smiled in his sleep - or at least Brendan thought he was sleeping.

"…Take a picture…it lasts longer…" He had mumbled before opening his eyes and looking at Brendan.

Part of him didn't register what had happened the night before; it normally took some big elaborate plan to get Stephen back. But this time, all he had needed was a couple of glasses of whisky to fuel him and a bit of honesty. It was... nice, the fact that it was that easy. He smiled as Stephen opened his eyes and looked back at him.

"...I'm not that creepy..." He had replied.

"Mm...debatable..." Stephen mumbled sleepily. It took Stephen a while for him to wake up properly, and when he did he shifted closer to Brendan on the bed, staring at him with those huge blue eyes.

He felt Stephen's hands under the covers caress his chest, playing with the hairs on there, never breaking eye contact with Brendan. He felt Stephen's hand trail downwards too, until he was softly rubbing his dick, naked as he was. He'll be honest, it felt damn good. The previous night, they hadn't had time for things like foreplay; they were both too horny, too desperate to wait. So now something as simple as a light brush against his dick from Stephen's hands felt amazing...

Stephen had soon dipped under the covers himself, once he felt Brendan go rock hard in his hand. Brendan had kept his eyes on the ceiling as he felt Stephen's tongue gently run over the tip of his dick and then rub against the underside of it, until he finally felt the hot, warm pressure of Stephen's mouth closing around half his length. He moaned and let his eyes close as Stephen moved his head back and forth, sucking him hard until Brendan came in Stephen's mouth and he felt Stephen swallow, slowly sucking him dry.

And then Stephen had crawled upwards so he was above Brendan's face. He smiled as Brendan panted and then leant down and kissed him. He tasted of himself, which was weird, but it was somewhat more satisfying, almost like he'd gotten into Stephen's actual DNA.

Stephen had giggled when Brendan had deepened the kiss. He sat up, straddling Brendan a little and smiled.

"Alright...calm down..." He laughed softly. "I'm gonna go and make breakfast, okay? Stay here..."

Brendan smiled back. "Is that an order?"

Stephen smirked a bit and kissed him softly. "Tss...as if _I'd_ order _you _around... I'm not that stupid, Mr. Dominant..."

He got off the bed and blew Brendan a kiss before disappearing out into the hall and closing the door. Brendan sighed and looked up at the ceiling. It was always like this...they'd have a couple of days of really fucking good sex and ecstasy... but then they'd fall apart. Brendan wasn't going to say he was 'worried' about things fucking up, because...well, that would just be clingy, right? But he liked how things were now. And he wouldn't mind if it stayed like this.

Stephen had come back a while later with breakfast, jam on toast to be precise - or seedless jam to be even more precise - and they'd sat and joked and ate in bed together. That was until they heard the front door slam a while after they'd finished eating. And then a voice.

"Ste?" It was Amy. "You home?"

Stephen's eyes were wide with terror. Brendan looked at him. What was _he_ so worried about?

"...we should get dressed." Brendan whispered. Stephen looked at him.

"No, no, no, you've gotta keep quiet!" He looked panicked and then sighed. "we can't tell anyone... not until I've..." He looked down. "Not until I've told Doug."

Brendan blinked. _Douglas. _He'd almost forgotten...

There was a knock at Stephen's bedroom door and Amy called his name again. He pushed Brendan under the covers and leaned on him a bit. He forced a huge grin onto his face as Amy pushed the door open a bit.

"Mornin'!" Ste smiled at her. She leaned in the doorway.

"Morning..." She smiled back. "Listen, I'm gonna be working today and my dad's dropping the kids off so I was just wondering if-" She stopped as she spotted the lump under the covers. _Oh my god. _She thought. _I've caught Doug and Ste doing some kind of deed, haven't I?! Oh god…Embarrassing…_

"Hurry up, Ames..." Ste smiled and rushed her a little. She blinked.

"Just don't go to the deli until the kids get here and 'Chaela comes to pick them up. Okay, good. I'll go out and call Ally… or something..." She backed out of the room.

"Sorry, Ste... Bye, Doug!" And she closed the door. Ste winced at she mentioned Doug and Brendan coughed awkwardly. Ste pulled the covers off Brendan and he gasped for air. He looked at Ste and Ste sighed.

"I'll tell Doug today, okay…" Ste looked at him and gave him a pleading look. As much as he wanted to make things work with Brendan, the idea of breaking up with his deli partner and throwing himself back into danger, into uncertainty, scared him. He wanted to trust Brendan, he really did, but he couldn't be sure that Brendan wasn't going to hurt him again; he was still a dangerous man, he always would be…

"Poor Douglas, eh…" Brendan drawled slowly. He picked up a leftover piece of jam on toast and took a huge bite of it, speaking as he chewed. "Don't get so worked up, Stephen… Dougie boy is not on my list of priorities…"

Ste nodded and fiddled with his hands. "No, I guess not…"

Once Brendan had finished eating and Ste had finished his mug of coffee, the pair finally found the energy to haul their heavy bodies out of bed and get dressed, Ste had got dressed into his deli uniform: the pale blue shirt and light chinos, while Brendan had got back into last night's clothes – which had thankfully dried from the onslaught of weather during the previous night. They heard Amy leave the flat shortly after they'd finished getting dressed, as she'd trudged off to work or gone out to meet Ally so Brendan left the flat, saying goodbye to Ste at the door who had to wait at the flat.

-OXO-

Brendan had to admit, life was going pretty good at the minute. Sure, Stephen had made him hide himself from Amy but it wasn't like that was a huge deal. Brendan wasn't one of those needy people who begged for confirmation that Stephen wanted him, and he wasn't in a hurry to tell the world. He would wait as long as needed. Also, the thought that Stephen was eventually going to leave Douglas for him, made him smile. Douglas had always thought he had beaten Brendan and he was not one to lose to a man like Douglas. And he hadn't. Stephen was his and he wasn't going to let him get away this time.

He smiled to himself and inhaled as he walked through the village. Joel came out of Collage Coffee with a takeout coffee and a cake, looking a bit tired and Brendan strolled over to him, smiling a bit. Joel seemed almost bemused; asking the older man what had put him in a good mood. Brendan had replied blaming the beautiful weather before taking Joel's cake and coffee and walking off. Joel yelled after him about how it was his food, but Brendan didn't really care. He headed back to his flat, finishing the cake in record time, sipping his coffee. It was a pretty nice day, which was funny, considering the onslaught of the previous night, but Brendan was never the kind of guy who thanked or cursed the weather. He finished his coffee, discarding the paper cup off the edge of the railings beside his flat and unlocked the door. He walked in and was met with the sound of soft sobbing.

He looked up.

Cheryl was sat on the sofa crying softly, holding her phone. She looked up at Brendan with a tearstained face and sniffled. She looked down and cried a bit more. Brendan pulled her into his arms and cradled her gently.

"Hey, hey…shh…" He brushed her hair out of her face. "What's happened? Your big brother is here now…"

-OXO-


End file.
